What's My Speed?

Putting social studies on the back burner for a couple of weeks, we are diving head first into science!!

Force and motion to be more specific. One thing I've noticed about fourth grade, and most other levels of the education of students, is that they L-O-V-E science!  And my LBKs love them some science!  (I hope I can keep this feeling goin' all year...)

In the beginning stages of this unit we talk a little bit about speed.  So...yet another impromptu project.  This time it's in science.  --I've got a feeling we're going to be doing a lot of impromptu this year.--

We took some notes...and more notes...and then just a few more notes.  By this point I was b-ored!!  The LBKs checked out about 15 minutes ago.  I think I did too but it just took me a little longer to realize it...

So we are talking about speed and discussing how fast a car travels in kilometers per second...and then the little light bulb in my went off.  Mr. Bulb said, "Why don't we actually measure speed instead of just talking about measuring it?"

"Great idea Mr. Bulb!" I said.  (One day I'm going to say that out loud and then my kids will think I'm crazy...ummm, I think they already do.)

So off I ran to my on it's last leg trusty computer and sent out a message, "Help, I need some stopwatches!"  Those who ask shall receive.

Off we go, my LBKs (Little Big Kids) and I, out to the ball field.  We measure out 50 feet, we group up, we get our timers out, and off we go!!  Did I mention we L-O-V-E science?

We called our experiment "What's My Speed" and we got out our handy-dandy science notebooks.  We wrote down our materials, our question, our hypothesis, our method, and what happened.

Our Handy-Dandy Science Notebooks.

Each student was timed in how fast they ran 50 feet and how fast they walked 50 feet.  Then they took the distance (50 feet) and divided that by their time.  They figured out how many feet per second they could run and how many feet per second they could walk.  We all had a good hypothesis for this experiment!

No...this is NOT a picture of me at the end of school running to my car!!

What's on tap for our science class tomorrow?  Who knows! ;-)

Until next time...

Mr. A

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A Finished Product

Okay, so apparently this blog is turning into more of a Social Studies project blog than a great fourth grade ideas blog.  Oh well...I'm having fun with some projects!!

Well...today our Native American Quadrama Projects were due.  After all the questions (and prayers!) they turned out well.  I had never assigned one of these types of projects before.  Sure, I've done regular ol' dioramas in a shoe box.

Don't get me wrong, they always turned out great.  But I always wind up wanting more from them...

Answer: Quadrama!  The students were required to show four different scenes instead of just one.  And it seems as if they had fun with them.  I got the idea from Shelley over at Blog Hoppin'.  Her examples were great and I thought this would fit perfectly into a Native American unit...and they did!

Anywho...check out some of the splediforous (yes, it's a word...I think) projects turned in today!!

A collection of my LBKs wonderful Native American Quadrama Project!

A view from one side.  Here is a student's view on the Hopi.

Here is a view from the top of one of the quadramas.

We had a wonderful time making these!  Presentations start tomorrow...please pray!

Until next time...

Mr. A

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Impromptu Social Studies--Results!

Hello all! Recently I published a post on a Social Studies project that I researched, worked on, and really prepared for...um, actually I just pulled it out of thin air! And because of that I was a little, or maybe a lot, hesitant to see the results.

But they came out wonderfully! The projects turned out great and the LBKs learned more with this project than they would have watching movies for four days in a row.

You can check out some of the presentations here! (We def need to work on our presentation skills!)

Anywho...check out the results.

Until next time...

Mr. A

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Celebrate!

One of the many joys of teaching is getting to celebrate the  accomplishments of your students.  Whether it's a student struggling in math and finally passing that unit four test or seeing their eyes overflow with understanding when they pull the rope on the pulley.

But I also like to revel in their accomplishments outside of the classroom walls...

I love getting to be there when one of my students scores a touchdown or gets runner-up in a beauty pageant.  Being a teacher is the toughest job I have ever had (and I h have had dozens), but it has also been the most rewarding.  Getting to celebrate with my students both in and out of the classroom has been one of those rewards.

I type this part as I sit backstage at our local beauty pageant and watch some of my students, old and new, boldly step out on stage and give it their all.   (My wonderful wife is taking the pictures backstage.)
My students are seeing me outside of school and they know that they are important to me.  They know that someone, other than those that should, cares about them.

A teacher should always encourage within the classroom, but don't forget to encourage outside of it also.

Until next time...

Mr. A

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Impromptu Social Studies

Moving from little kids to little big kids one of the biggest things I have had to get used to is teaching Science and Social Studies.

Wait! Before you throw up the "I Can't Believe You Didn't Teach Science and Social Studies to the Little Ones" flag and wave it all around...I did teach them. There was just not a huge focus since they they didn't even know quite how to read yet.

Okay, now that we are all off of our respective soapboxes...Social Studies has turned into one of the highlights of my day!

We are currently doing a unit on Native Americans. For our standards they are to become experts on six different tribes, and so our grade level plans reflected this... But I got bored (and so did the LBKs)... As a result, Impromptu Social Studies project was born!

As I was getting ready to start the umptenth video for the students to take notes on I realized that I was really dreading the next hour. So I said to myself, "Self, this is boring. Let's do something fun that makes them learn how to work together."

Then I group the kids, randomly, and gave each group one of our Native American groups to create a poster on and WOW has it been fun!

First, we created a design for our poster on one sheet of copy paper.

Next, we took over the computer lab and did a little research.

Now we are in the process of completing our posters. And I think they can tell me more about the different groups now than they could have if we just had five straight days of videos and notes. They are even learning more about the groups they are not assigned simply by working next to each other. I can't tell you how many times one student has said to another, "Hey, look at this!"

They are excited and having, and so am I...finally! Fourth grade may work out after all.

Until next time...

Mr. A

P.S.  You can grab a copy of the rubric I'm using here.  Thank you Rubistar for the free rubric generator!

Diving In to Guided Reading

So here we go...diving in to the educational blogging world.  Finding inspiration from many wonderful blogs I've decided to document and share my  classroom mishaps stuff.

I've decided to begin with my Independent Guided Reading Project.  This is my first year in frightful...errr...fabulous fourth grade and coming from guided reading with little ones to guided reading with big little ones I was a little nervous.  So...across the hall I go to my fellow fourth grade adventurer.  I stuck my head in and said, "Sup?"

After sticking my nose into what she was doing (and hiding a copy of it behind my back) I decided to do a little more diving.  And after a little searching and reading I came up with this project that, so far, I have loved.

My LBKs (little big kids) are about to finish their first book.  There have been many questions and a lot of modifying, but today was the first day that they all worked independently on their projects!  They are due tomorrow by the end of our guided reading segment and I am excited to see how they have turned out...pictures will be posted.

In the meantime you can take a look and grab a copy for yourself here.

Until next time...

Mr. A

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